"Hey Jill, it's Hank. Give me a call when you have a minute? I've got your test results and I think you're going to want to hear it." Just as he ended his message, Divya pulled up in her black Mercedes-Benz SUV as he pocketed his phone.
Divya wore a tight white skirt with a dark purple top and black pumps. "Sorry I'm late. My daughter was having an especially hard time with me leaving today."
"Somehow I don't think our patient will mind." Hank mentioned as they walked up to the front door and rang the door. Inside, there was screaming and wailing, followed by heavy footsteps.
"Or maybe they will." Divya and Hank exchanged a glance as familiarity set in. "Dr. Lawson. Thank you so much for coming."
"Anything I can do to help. You said Mason jumped off the stairs?"
"Over the railing onto the floor." She went to sit back down next to a sniffling Mason who was nursing the same arm he had hurt during the wedding. "This is what happens when your son thinks he's superman, and almost tries to smash his sister."
Hank gave her an amused smile as he kneeled by Mason. "Hi, Mason. I'm Dr. Lawson. Mind if I look at your hand?" Mason shrugged hesitantly, but held out his arm. "Unfortunately it looks like you could have broken his arm this time."
"So now what happens?"
"You said Mason almost smashed his sister-" Hank mentioned, looking at the abandoned bouncy chair that had been pushed against the far end of the couch.
"She's okay. I left her over by the coffee table because she had fallen asleep, and went into to the kitchen to grab a drink of water. Mason was upstairs playing in his room, or at least I thought he was, until I heard a loud thump-"
"And that's when you realized that Mason had been hurt."
"Yeah."
"Thankfully Jill came over a few minutes before you did and took Ava out back to calm her down." She lifted her chin towards the back door that was located between the kitchen and living room.
"I'll go check up on them" Divya volunteered as Hank explained what they would do next to Carina. As she opened the back door a few minutes later, she looked around the modest but shady backyard, filled with luscious green grass and flowers planted all along the fence.
Jill was lying on the porch swing, Ava wedged between her and the swing, both asleep. Divya smiled, as she toyed with whether to wake her or not. Luckily, she didn't have to. Jill stirred, and peered up at her.
"Hmm. Oh hey, Divya."
"Why is it that whenever I see you, you're always asleep?"
"Probably the McGilicuddy curse. We can sleep almost anywhere. After Mason woke her up, we came out here and she fell asleep on me."
"So naturally you fell asleep too." Jill nodded, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
"I know you just traveled clear across the world, but is there something that I should know about?"
"Like what exactly?"
"A health issue? A boyfriend? Pregnancy? Something like that."
"A boyfriend, no. A pregnancy, definitely not. A health issue, kind of." Divya gave her a concerned look. "Nothing horrible. After I came back to the states, I had a little issue with kidney stones. Nothing compared to the spider bite or the car accident."
Divya lifted her head in recognition of what she was talking about. "Ah, yes, who could forget that." They shared a smile as it grew quiet between them. "But other than that you're okay?"
Jill looked towards the horizon, a sad smile that quickly faded as quickly as it had come. "I''m okay. It's just hard being back, you know? I had a life here in the Hamptons."
"Well you know the Hamptons would love to welcome you back. And when I say the Hamptons, I mean everyone here."
"Thanks, Divya."
The back door slipped open. Carina appeared, holding Mason in her arms. "Jill? I'm going to take Mason to the hospital."
"Okay. Ava is asleep, so I can stay here until you get back."
"That would great, thanks."
"My brother went on a business meeting about 200 miles away." Jill explained to Divya, gently patting Ava's back.
"Well, I know she'll be in perfectly capable hands then. Next to her mother, of course." Divya looked up at Carina and smiled as they made their way inside. Jill settled back in when Hank stepped out onto the porch next.
"Well, you look comfy."
"Didn't think I'd be so comfortable." Jill responded quickly, shielding her eyes with her hand.
"Do you think we can talk later to go over your test results?" Hank tilted his head, so he could further take in the scene before him.
"I should be either here or back at the hotel, so just give me a call when you're free." Jill nodded, settling back against the pillow.
"I will do that." Hank nodded, disappearing back through the door.
"Jill?" Carina called out as they walked into the house, and Mason sleepily walked over to the couch and curled up on it.
"In the living room."
Closing the book in hand, Jill sat up, careful to not waking Ava who was resting on her legs. "She fell asleep about thirty minutes ago. How's Mason?"
"Dr. Lawson took an x-ray and found that he fractured a small part of his radius. He put a cast on his arm, and will check back in about six weeks to see if arm has healed fully on its own. In the meantime, Mason and I had a long chat about why it's not safe to jump off banisters, stairs, or anything really."
"Well, hopefully he learned his lesson."
"I sure hope so." She looked over her shoulder to where she could still see Mason curled up on the couch. "I know the whole experience wiped him out."
"Poor guy."
Carina nodded silently. "I'm not sure this is how you imagined your trip back to the Hamptons would go."
"No, I will most certainly have a story to tell when I get back to Africa."
"Here, I will take Ava upstairs if you want to go see Mason."
"I would love to." Handing Ava over, Jill brushed herself off and padded into the foyer.
As she entered the room, he turned to look at her, tears in his eyes. "Hey, I heard you had kind of a rough afternoon." Mason sniffled and nodded, turning away from her as he sniffled again. "What if we put in transformers?"
"Watch with me?" He asked her hopefully, now struggling to sit up due to his hand being in a cast.
"Of course." He gave her a small smile as he held out his good hand so she could grab it, then continued to hold onto hers as they walked into the living room. He settled on the couch with his Transformers blanket as she quickly put in the disc and sat next to him.
By the first ten minutes of the movie he had crawled into her lap, not taking his eyes off the screen. After twenty minutes he was leaning against her arm, fast asleep.
"Any way we can just keep you here? My kids love you." Carina half-joked, sitting in the chair next to the couch.
Jill nodded, her tone full of emotion. "At first I was irritated that I wouldn't be going back to Africa, but being back has also shown me what I've been missing."
"Or who you've been missing." Carina suggested with a smirk. "I see the way Hank looks at you."
"I'm pretty sure Hank has moved on." Jill waved her off. "Besides, we broke up because I left for Africa." Mason stirred on her lap, which caused them both to pause their conversation.
"If that's the case, then your brother and I would have never been married." Sitting on the edge of the couch, Carina offered, "What I'm trying to say is: really think about your feelings for him. And if you don't have feelings for him—then fine—he's probably not the one. If you find you do still have feelings about him, then tell him how you feel before its too late, and try to make it work because you never know what's going to happen."
"I wish it were that simple." Jill closed her eyes. When she opened them, her eyes reflected the weight of this decision, and other things she hadn't yet disclosed in her life.
"Okay." She stood up, gazing down at her sleeping son. "Since you're being held hostage, why don't you stay for dinner."
Without missing a beat, Jill nodded. "I would love to."
